1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sterilizing method and apparatus, and, more particularly, to a sterilizing method and apparatus for killing bacteria by generating ions. The present invention also relates to an air cleaning method and apparatus using the sterilizing method and apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an air cleaning apparatus includes a filter mounted in a housing for filtering diverse impurities; a blowing fan for introducing air from a room space into the housing, thereby forcing the introduced air to pass through the filter, and for discharging the filtered air out of the housing; and an anion generator for generating anions.
In this air cleaning apparatus, the room air is cleaned while passing through the filter when the blowing fan is driven, and is then discharged into the room space, together with anions generated from the anion generator. However, such a conventional air cleaning apparatus, which includes a filter and an anion generator, is limited in its ability to kill bacteria floating in the air, using only the filter and anions generated from the anion generator. In order to solve this problem, a new ion generator has been proposed which performs sterilization using both anions and cations. Such an ion generator, which can generate both anions and cations, is described in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2003-123940.
In this conventional ion generator, AC voltage is applied to two electrodes to alternately generate anions and cations. The generated anions and cations are supplied into a room space. In this case, the cations are hydrogen ions (H+), and the anions are super-oxide anions (O2−). When the hydrogen ions and super-oxide anions are supplied into the room space, they produce hydroxyl radicals (OH) or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). These compounds are adsorbed to bacteria present in the room air, to thereby oxidize and kill the bacteria.
However, this conventional ion generator has a problem in that hydrogen ions, which are harmful to the human body, are discharged into the room space intact, so that the user's health may be negatively impacted upon inhaling the hydrogen ions.
Furthermore, since each electrode alternately generates anions and cations, considerable amounts of anions and cations are coupled before they can be used for sterilization, so that their effectiveness is lost.
In addition, since each electrode alternately generates anions and cations, it is impossible to generate sufficient amounts of anions and cations required for sterilization within a short period of time.